A warewasher is a utility dishwasher used in restaurants, healthcare facilities and other locations to efficiently clean and sanitize cooking and eating articles, such as, dishes, pots, pans, utensils and other cooking equipment. Articles are placed on a rack and provided to a washing chamber of the warewasher. In the chamber, water and cleaning products, e.g., detergents and soaps, are applied to the articles over a predefined period of time referred to as a “wash cycle.” At the end of the wash cycle, the rack is removed from the washing chamber so that other racks carrying other articles may be moved into the washing chamber. The washing cycle is then repeated for each of these subsequent racks. Wash cycles may be customized for specific types of racks and the articles that the racks carry.
The number of articles washed by a warewasher over a given period in time may be estimated based on the number of racks provided to the warewasher during a given period in time. Currently, the number of racks provided to the warewasher during a given period in time is estimated based on the volume of chemical products used over the given period in time. This type of estimation is not very accurate because different types of articles require different amounts of chemical products. For instance, a warewasher may apply twenty ounces of a chemical product to a rack of utensils, but sixty ounces of the same chemical product to a rack of industrial pots and pans.
Another way to count racks provided to a warewasher over a given period in time is to use a mechanical counter that counts the number of times that a sliding entry door of the warewasher is opened. Each time the door is opened, the count of the counter is incremented by one. The counter is then checked by an operator to determine the number of racks provided to the warewasher over a given period in time. Although counting racks in this fashion is more accurate than counting racks based on product usage, it is not without problems. Namely, situations exist where a door of the warewasher is opened, but a rack is not washed. These situations render counts calculated by a counter somewhat inaccurate. To date, the most accurate and precise method used to count racks provided to a warewasher over a given period of time is to manually count each rack provided to the warewasher. It goes without saying that this alternative is an extreme waste of time.